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Hurricane Katrina

Donate to Hurricane Katrina!
Everyone should donate at least five dollars to the victims of hurricane Katrina for many different reasons. What is a hurricane? A hurricane is an intense, rotating oceanic weather system (whirling mass of warm, moist air) that possesses maximum sustained winds exceeding 119 km/hr (74 mph). They form and intensify over tropical oceanic regions. Hurricanes, which are ranged on a scale from one to five-five being catastrophic, result in damaging winds and storm surges (Remote Sensing Using Satellites, net). There have been a few catastrophic category 5 hurricanes on record to date. The Great Florida Keyes Labor Day Storm (1935) is the most intense hurricane on record and also the first to reach category 5 at landfall. The second and third most intense hurricanes on record are Hurricanes Camille (1969) and Andrew (1992) respectively. Andrew also was the most costly hurricane on record at 26.5 billion dollars, but now that has changed due to Katrina (National Weather Service, net). Hurricane Katrina's estimated damage has reached 125 billion dollars in economic losses and 60 billion dollars in insurance claims (Powell, net). Mobile, Alabama; Biloxi Mississippi; and New Orleans, Louisiana were among the cities with massive damage that contributed to the high estimated cost. In fact, the city of New Orleans has to be rebuilt because of the breaches in the levees which resulted in massive flooding that placed the city underwater.
The breaches in the levees, which protect the city of New Orleans from Lake Ponchartrain and the Mississippi River, were caused by storm surges from Hurricane Katrina. The levees were only able to withstand a category 3 hurricane, however; Katrina was a category 4 when she made landfall over the Louisiana shore, which was very unfortunate for the people and city of New Orleans. Floodwaters reached rooftops and were 20 feet deep in most areas. Everyone was forced to evacuate from their homes....

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